Panaji:  Five people, arrested for posing as policemen, have been charged with abducting, beating and sexually assaulting two young women tourists from Delhi who were holidaying in a popular beach stretch in North Goa, police said on Wednesday.

The two women, who were allegedly raped through Monday night and Tuesday, complained to police that five people on motorcycles had stopped their taxi posing as plainclothes anti-narcotics policemen who wanted to conduct a search.

Escorted by their motorcycles, the women, aged between 25-30 years, and their taxi driver were taken to a lonely resort in the popular beach village of Calangute, where they were allegedly beaten up and gang raped repeatedly overnight.

"We have added rape charges after medical examination," deputy superintendent of police Mahesh Gaonkar told IANS on Wednesday.

Those arrested were identified as Ajay Kusbash from Goa, Trevor Joseph from Mumbai, Nadeem Khan from Rajasthan, Kamlesh Choudhary from Hyderabad and Jivan Pawar from Karnataka.

All the accused are aged between 21 and 27 years and were employed in hotels and as bouncers in night clubs.

According to Gaonkar, the owner of the resort could also be questioned in connection with the crime.

"Resort owners should take adequate care to find out what is happening on their properties," he said.

A few months ago Goa police had issued an advisory against conmen posing as policemen and targeting lone women.